M-Audio Keystation 61es

This is a review of the M-Audio Keystation 61es. I was watching a video on YouTube of a young producer using a MIDI keyboard. When I started producing 2 years ago, I needed something like that, because, I as well am a young producer. I wanted my first keyboard to be easy. I was ignorant, but out of luck, I picked a great MIDI keyboard, the M-Audio Keystation 61es. The USB port influenced my choice because I didn't know a thing about MIDI, or any type of connection. I was only familiar with USB, so I took the first big leap when it came to producing and purchased this keyboard for $150 off of eBay. I was extremely excited for it to come because it was a promising piece of equipment. There are a couple options, but keeping it simple. One of them was the ability for a sustain pedal, like a real piano. This is one of the couple essential features on this board.

UTILIZATION

When it arrived, I was happy because I had gotten just the correct amount of keys. It's no studio piano with 76 or 88 keys, but it's not a compact board with 25 or 49 keys. This was nice because it was a happy medium between the two. I was happy that it fit nicely on my desk. The keys itself are pretty solid. They don't seem thin, and they're semi-weighted, giving the action of a real piano. The setup itself was a breeze. In retrospect, I don't even think I had to install anything. I think that the simple USB connectivity made drivers unnecessary. There isn't much of "channel selection" because it's such a simple keyboard, but the octave up and down buttons were useful, as well as the solid pitch bend and modulation wheels. In terms of the manual, I never had to look at it.

OVERALL OPINION

I have been using it for around a year and a half. The thing I like most was the ease of connectivity and compatibility. It was a breeze to install, and works in almost every DAW. I didn't try any other models before I bought it because really, I didn't need to. A con of this board was the lack of faders or knobs. However, if you are just doing some simple keyboard/melody work into your DAW, faders and knobs are just a luxury, not something that is essential. The price was fantastic, as I had gotten it $50 off. I recommend this MIDI Controller to anybody who really needs to get started with a simple, efficient, and easy-to-use MIDI keyboard.